Adventures in the Palace
by Dragonsong2
Summary: **New Adventure Up! George appears!** Short stories of the adventures of Alanna, Jon, Gary, Raoul, Alex, George and others during palace years!
1. Breakfast

_Adventures in the Palace_

Legal:  All characters, settings and references to the world of Tortall belong to Tamara Pierce under United States copy-write law and jurisdiction. 

_Breakfast_

A very sleep group of pages stood in the breakfast line in the mess hall of the palace.  Prince Jonathan, heir to the throne, couldn't decide which he wanted to do more, eat or go back to sleep.  Holding his tray, trying to perilously balance it, he grabbed just about everything in the line.  First the fruit, then the toast, next eggs and slices of ham, then a slice of pastry, finally, grabbing a large mug of milk, he made his way over to the usual table.  Alan"na", right behind her prince, merely grabbed an apple and a piece of toast.   Sitting down next to her friends, and being shortly joined by equally sleepy Raoul, Gary and Alex, she noticed that they were all basically asleep on their feet.  She started to laugh as she realized the food they had grabbed was far from anything they would normally eat, as Alex started to shovel eggs in to his mouth (which he hated) and Jon was taking a swallow of orange juice, which he had sworn off of at one point in his childhood.  Deciding to have some fun with her tired friends (she had been up for over two hours working with Coram's sword, while she knew they were exhausted from trying to finish their etiquette essays last night) she started with Raoul.

"So Raoul, did you get your essay finished last night?"  Alanna sweetly asked.

"Of course I did, I got all five pages finished by the third morning bell (3 am), so there."  He mumbled.

"Ahh, Raoul, did you say five pages?" Alanna asked.

"Of course, five, I actually do get my work done you know."

"Well… I heard that there was only one page due, not five."

"What??!" Raoul stuttered, "You told me yesterday that it was five pages"

"I did? Oh, I'm sorry" Alanna giggled, managing to look surprised and really innocent.

"Yeah right your sorry" Raoul growled "just wait Alan, just wait". With that last threat, Raoul turned back to his breakfast and started to dose off again.

One down, three to go, Alanna thought smugly to herself.  Deciding to hit two birds with one stone, she zoned in on what Jon and Alex were eating.

"Say Jon how is your juice this morning?"  She asked in a syrupy voice.

"Humabugh…" Was all Jon was able to reply, being mostly asleep, that is, till he focused on what his young friend had asked, too a huge swallow of his orange juice, and promptly spewed his orange juice across the table, spraying Alex who had just started to shovel another fork of eggs in his mouth.

"Ahhhh, what the heck, what is going on, blahh, spitsh, why, what, is this crap, what????" Jon continued to sputter, making no sense at all yet to rid himself of the offending taste. Meanwhile, Alex had thoroughly woken up from having orange juice sprayed on him, was going through a similar process of trying to rid himself of eggs.

"Alan!!!!" Both of the boys yelled, "What have you done??"

Laughing, Alanna managed to get out "I didn't do anything, you clumsy oafs; you're the ones who filled your plates!"  She shouted gleefully. The two pages grumbled and went to get cleaned up.   'One left' she thought, 'one left'.  Knowing Gary would be the hardest, she watched him for awhile, trying to figure out how to get him this morning.

"Alan," Gary suddenly called.

Surprised to be addressed, Alanna just looked up at him.

"I have something to tell you, umm, that I think you may not quite like."  Gary started,

"Gary…." Alanna begin to accuse "what have you done?"

"Well, remember the math homework you lent me last night, the one that took you almost three bells to complete?"

Starting to become filled with dread, she could only nod.

"I, well, accidentally spilled my wine on it last night when I was working on that essay, and I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid that it may be ruined." Gary explained.

"You did what???" Alanna screamed. "How could you do that, you know how long that took me. You know how much more work that blasted teacher will give me, how could you???"  Taking a deep breathe about to continue yelling at her large friend, she suddenly realized that both Gary and Raoul were laughing outright and Jon and Alex, who had returned, were grinning wildly.  

"What's going on?" Asked Alanna, suddenly very suspicious.

"You don't think I would really do that would you fire-top?" Laughed Gary, "I've been watching you get these other great monkeys all during breakfast, I wasn't about to let you get me to!"

Looking very sheepish, Alanna just glared at her friend, picked up her tray and stormed off to drop it off, all the while hearing Gary, Raoul, Jon and Alex laughing behind her.  Returning, she death started Gary and blankly stated that he was 'going to get it'.

"It was worth it Alan, just wait till later" Gary snickered.

Unable to hold her grin any longer, the five friends jumped at the bell and hurried off to the etiquette class, where the dread essay was due…

_Authors Note: Well, I hope that you enjoyed that. The stories will be about the days of the Alanna, Jon, Gary, Raoul, Alex, George and others throughout their page years.  Next one will be longer, and I'm always open to suggestions for their "situations" they will get in to!_


	2. The Glove

_Adventures in the Palace_

Legal: See previous chapter

_The Glove_

            The page Alanna was leisurely walking across the courtyard toward the wing of the palace where the pages quarters were held.  Happily knowing that she had already finished her math assignment, with Alex's help in exchange for stable duty, she had about one bell's worth of free time.  'Ah, free time' she thought to herself, 'I haven't had this for quite awhile'.   Trying to think how to spend her time, either practicing another round or lounging in the library with a book, she suddenly notice a white object on the ground a little ways in front of her.  Reaching it and bending down to pick it up she realized it was a small white glove, currently in fashion with the young ladies of the court.  Turning it over in her hands, she looked around to see if its owner was anywhere about.   Hearing a babble of voices from the other side of the courtyard, Alanna turned around and headed to the gardens, where the voices were coming from.  Rounding the corner, she saw a circle of court beauties sitting around gossiping with one another.  Sighing, for she knew what proper protocol demanded of her now, she warily approached the circle of girls and cleared her throat.

            "My Ladies", she said bowing, once she had gotten their attention, "Have any of you happened to misplace this small white glove I just found in the adjacent courtyard?" She asked, dreading one of the girl's replies.

            "Oh, my, I think that's my glove" one of the beauties spoke up.

            Turning toward the speaker, Alanna was dismayed to see the one who had spoken up was none other then Lady Meridean, the daughter of the Duke of Wolfs Hallow.  Lady Meridean's father was rich, very rich.  Meridean was pretty, not as pretty as some, but noticeable at that.  With long thick curly locks of honey colored hair and a smooth sun-kissed complexion, she was one of the girls Alanna's friends drooled over.  In fact, just the other day, Jon and Gary and had gotten in a snit over who got to dance with her first at the upcoming ball. Granted, both pages would dance with more beautiful women first, but still, it was a status conflict.  Lady Meridean had not yet 'claimed' one of the young noble lords to be a conquest and Alanna hoped with all her might that it would not be herself.

            "Thank you so much, page Alan" the lady slyly said, starting to flutter her eyelashes as she stood gracefully and walked over to Alanna.

            "It was nothing my Lady, nothing it all" Alanna stated, handing the glove to its owner.

            "Oh, I'm sure, Alan. It was so nice of you to go out of your way and 'hunt' me down to return it" she said, "I'm not sure what I would of done at tomorrows ball if I didn't have my glove to wear". Smiling, she reached down and gracefully took the glove out of Alanna's hand and just happened to let her fingers linger on Alanna's outstretched hand. 

            Gulping, Alanna quickly withdrew her hand and offered an obligatory smile to the lady "As I said my Lady, it was really nothing at all. Now, I don't want to keep you ladies from your afternoon, so I bid you all a good day."  Alanna said, backing up and hoping to make a run for it.

            "Page Alan?" she heard a sweet voice ask from behind her.

            Turning, Alanna saw Lady Meridean walking towards her.  'Uh oh' Alanna thought, 'here comes trouble'.

            "I would like to reward you for finding my glove today; it was just so kind of you to do so!"  Meridean giggled, "I have decided to allow you to accompany me to the ball tomorrow, when you're not doing your serving duties that is. In fact, I will speak to the queen and I'm sure she can see that you are excused for most of the evening!" the lady stated happily, as if she were doing page 'Alan' a great favor indeed.

            Knowing she could not refuse, Alanna did what she was forced to: "You are too kind my lady, and if you insist, I will of course accompany you to the dance on marrows eve."

            "I just cannot wait Alan, oh I can't!" Eyes sparkling, knowing she was making a 'conquest' Lady Meridean turned back to her friends, who had watched the entire exchange, winked and smiled slyly at them.  "Oh, one more thing page Alan" She stated, turning, "I'm wearing red, so dress accordingly." With that, she and the rest of the ladies retired indoors to discuss the upcoming ball.

            'What have I gotten myself in to??' Alanna thought miserably, 'A ball, a lady, wearing red, I can't wear red!! What am I to do? How can I pull this one off?" She asked herself.  'Me a girl, courting a girl? This is a disaster' she moaned. Dreading telling her fellow friends that the infamous social shy Alan was escorting a Lady to the ball, Alanna trudged up to Jon's rooms, all thoughts of free time vanished from her mind as she tried to come up with some way of getting rid of her unwanted situation…

_Authors notes:_

            I'm glad that you all are enjoying it so far, I only hope you continue to do so!  Now, would you like the next 'adventure' to be about the ball or something else???!!!

            Thanks to all who reviewed!


	3. The Glove: Part Two

_Adventures in the Palace_

Legal: See previous chapters

_The Glove: Part II_

Note: This takes place in the middle part of the first book, so… Faithful and Moonlight are not here yet and no one knows that Alanna is a girl. Just remember to keep that in mind.  I will be writing some stories with Faithful, Moonlight, and others in later books later on.

            Alanna slowly climbed up the stairs to the rooms of the crown prince of Tortall who just happened to be one of her best friends.  Reaching his door Alanna heard the voices of two of her other friends as well, Gary of Naxen and Alexander of Tirragen.  Not even bothering to knock, Alanna opened the door and stepped in.  "I've got a problem" she announced to her friends.  

            "What is that Alan, someone steal your homework?" Alex joked.

            With a withering glance at Alex, she replied: "Not quite, it's a little more serious than that.  See, I had a run in with some of the place ladies in the gardens and some how I got roped in to appearing as Lady Meridean of Wolfs Hallows escort." 

            All three pages had extremely shocked looks on their faces.  Glancing at each other, each one wondering how Alan had managed this, Jon decided to speak up. "Ah, Alan, first off, I don't even what to know how you managed this, although, I'll say lucky you, knowing what Lady Meridean looks like, but also, there is a slight problem.  Pages aren't allowed to go to the balls, except to serve, you know that."

            "Yes I do, and I tried to tell her, but she said she was going to talk to your mother about getting out of my duties."  Alanna dimly replied.  Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she was struck with an idea. "Jon!! You talk to your mother; I'll know she'll listen to you. That's how I can get out of it! Please?!" Alanna asked with imploring eyes. 

            "Why would you want to get out of it Alan?"  Gary finally piped in, "I mean, Wolfs Hallow is rich and the girl is beautiful. You should be happy she's taking in interest in you, I would be thrilled.  In fact, I'd take her any day."

            "Fine, then you take her, I want nothing to do with girls right now, and I'm too young" Alanna snapped back. "Jon, please go talk to your mother before it's too late."

            "Alright Alan, settle down, I'll go talk to mother about it, although I have no idea as to way you don't want to go." With that, the Prince left his rooms and went to search for his mother, shaking his head at Alan's weird behavior.  

            Feeling slightly better about her prospects at getting out of the impending dance, Alana realized that another friend would be able to help her as well.  Raoul.  He hated social functions just as much as she did and he was sure to have some great ideas about getting out of this ball if the Queen actually did excuse 'Alan' from serving page duties.  

            "Hey Alex?  Do you think you could run and find Raoul?  I'm sure he would have some kind of idea of what we could do to get out of this."  Alanna asked.

            Sighing, Alex got up and headed out the door, "Sure thing Alan."

            "So why do you really want to get out of this Alan?" Gary asked, puzzled by his young friend's behavior.

            "I just don't want to go with a girl, not yet that is. I'm just not ready." Alanna replied evasively, not desiring to tell the real reason.

            Gary decided not to press the issue further, sensing something else was behind Alan's hesitance of not going.  Suddenly, Alex reappeared, with Raoul in tough. 

            "So I hear you have a small problem Alan" Raoul laughed "Alex has already filled me in. I suppose we should just wait till our prince gets back before we decide to do anything to drastic."  The four friends sat and chatted for awhile about everything from getting a new horse for Alan to what the etiquette teacher was going to make them do next.  Finally Jon reappeared looking slightly amused.

            "Well…" the prince started, "it seems that Lady Meridean is quite the resourceful women.  Mother agreed to her request, but I managed to slim it down to you spending only about a fourth of the ball with her, and the rest performing your usual duties.  So, when it comes down to it, I'm afraid you're going to have to spend at least some time with her." 

            Looking incredibly dismayed that she was still going to have to go through this; Alanna glanced around looking for help. "Well, what am I to do??"  

            "I've got it!" Raoul yelled jumping up, "here is what we do…."  Raoul explained as the other pages gathered around, laughing and talking as they heard is plan…

_The next day, at the ball…_

            'Here goes nothing' Alanna thought to herself as she made her way to Lady Meridean side.  Having completed most of the page duties, Alanna knew it was time to spend time with the Lady.  Catching Gary's eye, she nodded to him to let him know to start the plan.  "My Lady Meridean" Alanna said, bowing to the lady, "may I have the pleasure of this dance?"

            "Ah, there you are Alan, I as wondering where you went. I would like a dance very much of course!" She replied suggestively, batting her eyelashes and flashing a smile.

            Gulping down terror, Alanna reached for her hand and was about to take it, all the while wondering where in the world Gary was, and suddenly, like a gift from the Goddess, she heard his voice.

            "STOP!" Gary's thunderous voice yelled.  "What in Mithros's name do you think your doing Page Alan?" He asked, barreling down on the two.   

            Pretending to be annoyed and affronted, although secretly relieved, Alanna turned and addressed her friend.  "Excuse me Garth of Naxen, what do you mean, 'what am I doing'? I am escorting this beautiful lady to the dace floor. Now if you will, please move out of our way?"

            "I think not. You know very well that you took this Lady's glove from me secretly and pretended to find it yourself." Gary exclaimed.

            Gasping in shock, the lady turned towards Alanna, "Is this true Alan, did you really do this?"

            "Well…" Alanna started, pretending to look guilty and meek at the same time, "that's not quite far from the truth."

            "That is not all," Gary started in again, beginning to enjoy the 'mock' fight, "not only did he take my rightful glove to return to you, but he entirely failed to inform you that he is already 'seeing' someone back at his fathers fief.  Or did he tell you of that already?" 

            Whipping around and glaring at Alanna, Lady Meridean gasped in horror, "To think that I was interested in you, that I thought you were a handsome and kind man, how dare you make a mockery of me, page" She screeched, making sure to emphasize the 'page' part.  "I want nothing more to do with you. To think, just to think that I thought to dance with you, well, how dare you."  Getting ready to march off and inform her friends, Gary grabbed her arm and spun her around.

            "My beautiful lady, since the young Alan is clearly not worthy of your attentions, perhaps you would be willing to allow me to have a dance with such a charming sunning beauty like yourself?" Gary asked flattering her with a sly words and a charm-filled smile.  

With a wink at Alanna, Gary moved out on to the dance floor with the now glowing Lady of Wolfs Hallow and proceeded to dance the night away with her.  As the night ended, both Gary and Alanna were more than pleased the way their nights ended up.  Gary in the arms of a women, and Alanna being freed from the embarrassment of having to pretend to court another woman.  Falling asleep that night, Alanna thanked Raoul for the brilliant plan and drifted off to sleep at ease.  

As an interesting note, a few days after the "ball" incident, the Duke of Wolfs Hallow sent his daughter back to the convent in hopes of her learning not to 'throw' herself at men.  Needless to say, what happened with Alanna that night was twisted in a strange way and the gossip at court was that Lady Meridean had been leading both 'Alan' and Gary along while having not one but two young men back at the fief.  Lady Meridean spent another year or so at the convent where upon her leaving, her father promptly married her off to an older man from a neighboring fiefdom.  Not much was heard of her after that. 

_Authors Notes:  Well, I hope you enjoyed the second part of the story!  I will apologize for not updating soon enough, although school is quite a burden.  I will try and get another story up soon! _

            Thanks to all who reviewed, I hope you continue to enjoy these little stories!  Suggestions are always welcome!  Till the next adventure comes around…


	4. Thieving

_Adventures in the Palace_

Legal: See chapter one

_Thieving_

Quick Authors note:  I don't have the Lioness Quartet with me, so if any of the descriptions, name spellings and places settings are wrong, I apologize profusely (I'm writing solely from memory).  Any corrections would be greatly welcome. On to the story…

            A young man with darkish hair and sparkling green/hazel eyes watched two boys approach the inn where he sat.  Through the window he could see they journey through the crowed street to the entrance of the inn.  Smiling and shaking his head, the King of Thieves beckoned to Solomn to bring a pitcher of lemonade for the incoming guests.  Just as the lemonade was brought, the two boys came rushing in to the inn.  

            "Ha, I told you he would be here Gary!" declared the small of the two, a young man with bright red hair and startlingly purple eyes. 

            "Yeah, you were right" Gary of Naxen replied grinning at this young friends hopeful face, "do you think I'm going to pay up now?" he asked.

            "Gary, you said you would!"

            "I said I might make the bet with you, I never said I would" the young man replied.

            Getting angry at his older friend, 'Alan' of Trebond demanded Gary to pay up.  Out rightly laughing at the two pages argument, the King of Thieves decided to finally intervene.

            "Settle down Alan, I'm sure Gary will pay up in time, wont you master Gareth?"  George asked.

            "While of course I will George, as soon as I find a way to win it back!" Laughing the three friends sat down to enjoy the lemonade on the hot fall day.

            "So George, you promised.  Can we start today??" Alanna asked hopefully.

            Looking at his young friends eager faces, George only shook his head. "Are you sure you boys want to try this out? Its not easy you know and how will you explain to your esteemed father and the Lord Provost why you were caught picking pockets?" he inquired.

            Managing to look only slightly guilty, Alanna spoke up "We wont get caught George, your teaching us and your the best, so we wont.  Besides, it's not like were going to rob the royal treasury or anything like that."  Gary nodded his head in agreement.  Inwardly cringing at what he had gotten himself in to, George stood up and beckoned the two to follow him up to his room.  Once they were all inside the King of Thieves sat the two pages down to explain to them the rudimentary basics of the art of thieving. 

            "Know boys, the first thing you need to know, the first rule and basically the only rule you need to follow is never get caught, never be seen."  George issued seriously.

            "That's hardly a rule.  That's common sense." the son of Naxen laughed along with Alanna.

            "Rules are often common sense my young lord.  Common sense will save you, as will these rules.  Now, you must appear innocent yet not gullible.  Likeable but not rememberable. You must not look like a noble but neither like a street rat.  It's a fine balance a good thief strikes in his appearance.  You must move quickly but never be in a hurry.  Calm but on your toes.  You must carry weapons but never be seen with them.  You must never have your stolen goods on you for more than five minutes at a time.  Always have a drop spot picked out ahead of time so you won't be caught with goods on you.  Return later to your drop spot but don't be seen near it for more than 30 seconds at a time.  There are more boys, but I don't have the time to teach it to you all in one afternoon." George instructed.   

The next couple hours the thief proceeded to instruct the young noblemen that basic art of thieving.  George had them practice by taking small jewels and purses off of him before he would let them in to the street.  Finally he deemed them ready to go out in to the market place for one run and one run only.  Arranging a meeting place for after the first run, Alanna and Gary set off in opposite directions whistling happily as they set our on their mission.  George watched them go and then decided to tail Alanna thinking she may need more help than the quick Gareth.  Following the young page through the thongs of the people he saw her stop hear and there glancing at different stalls and vendors.  She would occasionally glance around at the groups of people, but never for more than a few seconds.  'Good job Alan' George thought, see the page move calmly through the street.  Suddenly, quick as an eye blink George saw Alanna bump in to a rather fat gentlemen and brush off.  Hearing Alanna apologize profusely and walk on, George knew she had made a 'collections'.  

As Alanna made her way over to a niche in the wall behind an apple vendor to drop her stolen purse, she saw George in the crowed.  'He didn't think I could do it, did he?' Alanna thought to herself and smiled with victory.  'I wonder how Gary is doing.' Her thoughts wondered to her friend.

Gary was not having as good as a time as his younger page friend was.  First of all, he could not quite move through the crowds as easily as Alana could.  He was quite a bit bigger and also, although he did not have red hair or purple eyes, he was handsome enough to leave an impression.  'Maybe I can charm something from someone.' He thought.  Deciding that would be the best way.  He calmly moved over to where a pretty young maid was selling a multitude of colorful silk scarves.  Smiling at her with a charming smile he glanced through the scarves pretending to be interested in them.  Striking up a conversation with her he proceeded to charm her for a few minutes.  Then deciding that it was time, he left the stall and snuck around back.  Seeing where she kept the box of funds he crept through the back and made a leap for it.  Suddenly he heard a high pitched scream.  Turning around he saw a wide eyed young girl sitting on a box playing with her doll.  

 "Mariana!!!"  She yelled, "There's a man in here!"  Grabbing her doll and jumping off of the box she exclaimed: "Why are you here, you need to leave. This is my shop and you can't be here."

"I'm sorry little maiden, I really am. I'll be leaving right away, I promise."  Gary issued, quickly backing up and trying to get out.   Just as he reached the door, Mariana burst through the front entrance. 

"You!" she screamed, "Get out you horrid thief, get out now."

"I'm leaving now Miss, right now" Gary said trying to calm her down as he turned and high tailed it out of there just as the shop keeper let out the dreaded cry of "THIEF".   Trying to run as fast as he could Gary dodged in and out of traffic.  Feeling people grabbing at him to stop him he started to panic.  Then, like a gift from the great Goddess, he heard Alanna's voice.

"There you are brother!"  Alanna said, running up to him.  Grabbing his arm and calmly pulling him through the crowds, they were both stopped by the city guard.

"What's this of a thief?" They demanded.

"You see officer; my brother here has some problems.  He's seen the doctor and all, but he just doesn't get any better.  See he has some problems behaving sometimes and gets in lots of trouble.  I thought I knew where he was but he wandered off and the next thing I knew he was running crazy through the crowd.  I promise he didn't do any harm, he's not smart enough to do so." Alanna quickly lied, knowing she was going to get it from Gary later for making him out to be a mental case; she went on, "I hope that he didn't make any problems for you sirs, I'll keep a good look out for him now." Alanna ended, leading Gary away from the guards and back to the Dancing Dove.  

They got back and collapsed in George's room, laughing over what had happened.  "You can thank me later pig-head" Alanna laughed, "and now you really owe me from our bet!"  

"Of course fire-top" Gary replied, "of course."  George finally appeared in the doorway and scowled at the pages.  "I guess you saw what happened?" Gary asked.

"Yes in fact, I did." George answered.  "You are just darn lucky Naxen that Alan was there to help you, or you would have had some explaining to do to your father."

Sighing, Gary smiled and nodded.  Being almost dusk, the two boys took their leave and made there way up the road to back to the palace.  As they reached the gates, Gary turned towards Alanna with a pleading look on his face.

"What's up Gary, why so grim?" Alanna asked noticing her friend's disturbed expression.

"Alan?" Gary started, "you'll keep my screw up just between us, right? I mean, if it got out, can you imagine what my cousin and Raoul would do to me?" 

Smiling Alanna replied: "If you're lucky Gary my friend, if you're lucky…" 

            Laughing, the two friends made their way up to the gates and in to the next adventure that would surly await them…

_Authors Notes:  Well, I apologize for not updating very soon, school has been a hindrance, to say the least!  I hope you enjoyed this one with George being in it and all.  I thought it was time for him to make an appearance!  I hope that you enjoyed this adventure.  Remember, if any of you have any ideas of things the group could do, let me know!  Also, any suggestions and/or complaints are always welcome!_

            Thank you to all the reviewers, I hope you continue to enjoy the stories! 

            Till the next adventure comes along…

_            ~Dragonsong_


End file.
